Letter: Government rounds

Why does our government need 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition? (Hollow points that are banned by the Hague Convention of 1899 for use in international warfare.) If these cannot be used against our enemies in war, why order this much ammunition? That only leaves only two choices, the practice range, or us.

Why does our government need 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition? (Hollow points that are banned by the Hague Convention of 1899 for use in international warfare.) If these cannot be used against our enemies in war, why order this much ammunition? That only leaves only two choices, the practice range, or us.

In this order were 176,000 rounds of .308 168-grain hollow point boat tail (HPBT) rounds that are used almost exclusively as ammo for sniper rifles.

War in Iraq consumes about 70 million rounds of ammunition each year. At that rate, it would take about 20 years to consume the 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition ordered by the Department of Homeland Security alone, not including all the ammunition ordered by the weather service, Social Security, etc.

Homeland states that it might use 15 million rounds a year in practice (if my math is correct that is just short of 100 years of practice).

No one orders hollow points for target practice.

And no, Iím not a conspiracy theorist, but does anyone else find this worrisome?